I finished this project back at the end of August just in time for our big family trip we took in September. With the holidays coming up and all the traveling that usually comes with that, I thought this was the perfect time to share this airplane tote with y’all.
Isn’t my model so adorable? So, you may wonder what makes this an airplane tote; it’s obviously not the fabric, and the pattern is just the spring tote pattern from Handmade by Jill with a small twist…
When you turn the bag inside out, one side becomes a car mat, and the other side becomes a felt board; and although I don’t have a picture of it (that flight was just too crazy to snap one), the bag acts as a slipcover for your airplane tray. I saw another tray slipcover in the Sky Mall magazine and thought, “that’s pretty clever, but I think I could come up with something better than that one.” As I was making mine, I came across several other ones online (like this, this, and this), but I didn’t see any with all of the features that I came up with. For instance, the car mat side that my son loves, even when it’s not on an airplane tray because it can just lay flat anywhere you need some kid distraction (like on a 2 1/2 hour layover). I also love the felt board side with the storage pockets. To make my own felt pieces, I copied some pictures from one of his books (hopefully without copyright infringement) and covered one side with clear contact paper and sprayed the other side with adhesive before applying felt. Another feature that I think will come in handy for future kiddos are the ribbon loops I attached to the side which are perfect for attaching link toys to so they stay off the filthy plane floor. And of course I love the reversible bag aspect of it! In case you couldn’t tell, I was very pleased with the outcome of my little experiment.
So, as I mentioned, I used Jill’s spring tote tutorial minus the interfacing and basically just lined the inside with all the fun stuff. If any of you out there want to make a airplane tote make it bigger than you think you need. I had done lots of research online as to the size of airplane trays and read some comments from other crafters saying that theirs had been too small. So, I gave myself an extra 1/2 inch of fabric (totalling 18 inches across) and it was a very tight fit, so if I were doing it again I might do as much as 19 inches, because it’s better to be safe then sorry (and super bummed at all the hard work you put into it and now it doesn’t fit on the stupid tray anyway).
Linked to: 52 Mantels, Lamberts Lately
One Response to airplane tote
Um, this is amazing! Last summer I was planning on flying somewhere ALONE with Dru, and had found a lot of really expensive plane travel items for little kids. We ended up cancelling the trip, but we've got another one in the works this next summer (the hubs will actually come on this one, so at least I won't be alone). BUT I LOVE THIS! SO much better than anything I found for purchase!! I am really hoping Santa drops off a sewing machine this Christmas, and this will be one of the FIRST things I make.
Love you!!